Outcome of Induction Therapy for Newly Diagnosed Acute Leukemia in a Calendar Year: Real World Data from a Tertiary Care Cancer Centre in South India

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Smita Kayal, Biswajit Dubashi, Sunu L Cyriac, Debdatta Basu, Rakhee Kar, et al.

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Published: 18 June 2018 | Article Type :

Abstract

Remission induction is the most intensive course of acute leukemia treatment. There is paucity of contemporary data on outcomes of induction from developing countries. In this study from a tertiary care centre in South India we report induction outcomes for all cases of acute leukemia (n = 109, ALL = 71 and AML = 38) registered in department of Medical Oncology in the calendar year 2015. 76 patients were in pediatric age group (≤ 18 years) and 33 were adults, male to female ratio was 1.6:1. All febrile neutropenia related events were more in AML, with early onset (median day to onset was day 8 in AML vs. day 17 in ALL), higher severity (94% clinically or microbiologically documented infection in AML vs. 61% in ALL), increased fungal infections (25% probable fungal pneumonia in AML vs. 6% in ALL) and consequently with more resource utilization. CR rate for ALL was 70%and 53% for AML. Fatal induction events were recorded in 17.6% ALL and 34.3% AML. Mortality during induction therapy of acute leukemia is high in resource limited settings, higher in AML than ALL, mostly because of infections (74% of induction deaths). There is a vital need for analysis of resources and improvement in supportive care during acute leukemia induction.

Keywords: acute leukemia, induction, outcome, South India.

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Smita Kayal, Biswajit Dubashi, Sunu L Cyriac, Debdatta Basu, Rakhee Kar, et al.. (2018-06-18). "Outcome of Induction Therapy for Newly Diagnosed Acute Leukemia in a Calendar Year: Real World Data from a Tertiary Care Cancer Centre in South India." *Volume 1*, 1, 37-47